Rejection Can Be A Good Thing?

Hello world. First things first, let me introduce myself. I’m Precious, 21, loves anime and wrestling and I just recently graduated. Acquainted? Yes? Okay, let’s begin.

I’ve been given the great yet daunting opportunity to write a post for JUT. This is my first time and I don’t consider myself much of a writer so please bear with me. And if it is that bad then just close the page, don’t worry, I won’t know.

So yeah, like I said before, I recently graduated and university was far from easy (we can save that for another day). I’m just here to touch on a few things about my experience and hopefully send some encouragement your way.

I believe that the person I am today is because of my good friend rejection. My achievements up to this date? All down to rejection. Where I am in life right now? You guessed it, rejection. I’m gonna try to make my story as concise as possible and hopefully you’ll see where I’m coming from.

When I was in my final year of sixth form, I started to apply for universities, and in an ideal world you hope to get all 5 of your offers right? So did I. Wrote my personal statement, sent off my application aaaaaaand got no offers whatsoever. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Not really gonna go deep into how I felt, but it is safe to assume that I was far from happy. It hit me HARD. It took a knock on my motivation to do my work and revise because I felt like I had nothing to work towards. I proceeded to apply for other universities, only because my parents thought it was a good idea, and I finally got a place to study Physiotherapy at the University of Huddersfield.

(I know some of you are sitting there like “University of where?”, don’t worry it’s a common reaction).

I was absolutely over the moon and life was looking up for me. *fast forwards to results day*. Didn’t get the grades I wanted, couldn’t get into physiotherapy.

To be honest, that was the final straw for me. I was so close to achieving my ‘dream’ and it was just gone. Long story short, I applied through clearing to Exercise Science and let me tell you now that it was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.

Rejection helped me to realise the path that was for me. University was an emotional rollercoaster but I made it through (just about) and graduated with a First-Class Honours. Then to top it off, I won the Dean’s Prize for Excellent Academic Achievement as I had the highest overall mark on my course.

Now I’m not saying that this is the end result every time your UCAS application gets rejected but please please never give up. I know it sounds so cheesy and cliché but honestly, keep pressing on. I wouldn’t have found the perfect place for myself if I didn’t get rejected. And if I really wanted to, I could go back to university and do my masters in physiotherapy.

I know for sure that everything happens for a reason, that God has a plan for us all (Jeremiah 29:11) and as long as you work hard and put your trust in Him, you can achieve all your dreams. Three years ago, I never thought that I would be where I am today and I can proudly say that I am happy I was rejected. Don’t beat yourself up for it and don’t be ashamed to tell someone about your failures because a great support network makes everything a little easier, I promise you.

So if you’re a reject, stand up and make some noise! Nah, I’m playing but keep your head held high because rejection is not the end of the world, it’s the start of a new venture in life.

OH, and one more thing, the greatest bit about it all is that I can say to my children “when I was your age, I was number one in my class”. Life doesn’t get any better than this.

I’m just gonna leave it here now because I can smell fried rice downstairs and I’m hungry. I don’t know if I’ll be back here again, but if I’m not just keep reading this post and pretend you’ve never read it before.

Thanks for reading guys!

Yours truly (and rejected),

Precious.

Twitter & Instagram: @_preciousnaomi

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Don’t forget to check out Mayline's and Josh’s posts while you’re still here.

They’re a good read!